National Science Foundation awards grant to SDSU public health and engineering professors
Neil Klepeis, an adjunct professor with San Diego State University’s School of Public Health, and his colleagues Hanyang Li and Luca Camignani in engineering, recently co-received an award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for contributions to the project “After the Flames in Post-Fire WUI Homes: Characterization of Toxic Emissions, Environmental Concentrations, and Exposures.”
The project examines the aftermath of wildfires in Los Angeles and how burnt plastics, electronics, and building materials contributed to air and surface pollution in the area. The award, a $410,000 grant to SDSU, is from the NSF’s Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems.
“This award will help advance my research and that of my colleagues in understanding, modeling, and reducing human exposure to toxic airborne and surface-borne contaminants in residential settings,” Klepeis said.
Klepeis works on this project as co-principal-investigator with SDSU engineering professor Hanyang Li, who is the project’s lead principal investigator, and co-principal-investigator Luca Carmignani. The project is the culmination of Li’s measurements of toxics in homes affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires, Carmignani’s fire science research, and Klepeis’ “background in indoor air quality, human exposure assessment, and exposure modeling,” Klepeis said.
The project consists of “controlled burns” and field measurements to characterize emissions and understand the movement of pollutants through homes in order to create a computational model that simulates this movement. Samples from homes affected by the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires helps to identify these pollutants and their abundance.
With many of his research projects, Klepeis aims to help “people understand and reduce their exposures to toxic environmental pollution.” Some are focused on education, like the game-based learning system he’s currently developing to help teach environmental health literacy to middle school students.
He began his SDSU career more than 18 years ago, when he first became an assistant adjunct professor. At the time, he was also a consulting professor of environmental engineering at Stanford University and a senior scientist at a nonprofit.
He now runs CLYR, a company he co-founded to provide exposure and risk assessment products for air quality. The company is currently developing a prototype for a tool powered by artificial intelligence that will allow users to assess their home’s environmental risks and discover ways to reduce exposure to pollutants.
Tools like this are especially important in California for increasingly prevalent fires at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) – areas where urban development borders wildland — and the high levels of air and surface pollution that result.
“Active WUI research is critical to understanding how to inform and support communities and individuals, raising awareness of potential risks to population health and identifying workable and effective strategies and policies for preventing serious adverse health outcomes,” Klepeis said.
With additional support from the award grant, Klepeis can continue to build upon his own work to create healthier, more informed communities that are better prepared for pollutant hazard exposures.
